Avatar: Rise of the Shadows
by Deltoran Merchant
Summary: The Fire Nation has fallen and peace is returning to the world. Azula has been confined to an asylum and Ozai to a high security prison. However a number of events across the world herald the arrival of an enemy greater than any before. Can Aang handle it
1. Prologue

**Avatar:**

**Rise of the Shadows**

**Prologue:**

**The Shadow**

_Across the dark they move, wreaking destruction and conquest. The Shadow that swallows and devours. They are the fear that dwells in our nightmares, the thing you see out the corner of your eye, the ones who're there when you are alone. None can oppose them and all will fail._

_To this world they come, in the year after fire's fall. As peace resumes in the world of elements and the wounds of war begin to heal. From above they shall come in their mounts of doom, the Avatar's might even will prove as nothing and all shall fall before the might of the darkness._

The archaeologist looked up from the tablet he was reading and shivered in fear. Although he wished with all his might that what he'd read wasn't true, he knew it must. He was in the ruins of a place called the Archive of Oracles. This place, like the library in the deserts was thought by many to be merely a legend. However he'd discovered it after many years of searching.

He was an Earth Kingdom archaeologist and he'd been at work throughout the war with the Fire Nation. However something inside him had always wondered at the Fire Nation's abrupt change of status with the world. He knew his history, which included the story of Sozin and Roku. It made little sense how Sozin could change from a kind young boy into a tyrannical conqueror. Perhaps it was just loneliness or depression, but the possibility remained that perhaps something greater and more sinister had had a role.

Carefully wrapping the tablet as an archaeologist should, he packed it and prepared to leave. This tablet could be vital and he had to show it to someone. Since it could concern the fate of the whole world he figured Avatar Aang would be the best person to show.

Beginning to pack up, Shon felt like something was wrong. He wasn't sure but it seemed the air was getting colder. His lamp seemed to be dimming and the shadows seemed to be getting deeper. The flame in the lamp was flickering as the shadows around him seemed to become almost physical. Shon quickened his pace and began to make his way out of the archives. Through the stone doors of the chamber he went then down a stone hall and into the central chamber.

He gasped for breath and scanned the hallways branching off from the central chamber. It was hard to see them though, for his lamp's light was failing and seemed increasingly useless as the darkness seemed to thicken into a velvet blanket all around him. Shon, a very fit individual, found himself out of breath and gasping as though he'd just run miles and miles. Even standing was beginning to seem difficult as the lamp grew heavy in his hand.

Suddenly the pressure vanished and the lamp's light returned. The chamber seemed brighter, but there was a thick clump of shadows in front of him that morphed into a humanoid shape. Except no features were present, just glowing red eyes and sharp claws at the end of shadowy hands.

Before he knew what had happened the shadow creature was right in front of him and there was a terrible pain coursing through his body. His vision dimmed and soon he was dead. The shadow creature bent and picked up the tablet and crushed it in its hands. Then it melted into the surrounding shadows and vanished.


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1:**

**The Avatar**

Aang's eyes snapped open as his meditation came to an abrupt end. He wasn't sure why exactly, but he'd been compelled to bring it to a close as a strange sensation like anxiety clenched his stomach. It felt like the 'butterflies in the stomach' sensation and he could hardly explain it. All the young Avatar knew was that something wasn't right in the world and perhaps the spirit world was in danger too.

Looking around the ruined air temple, the southern one to be precise, he could no longer feel the peace and tranquility of the area. He'd been removed from his concentration and now he was distracted. With a sigh he snatched up his staff that became a simple glider with a tap on the ground. Then with a little airbending he was gone into the air and flying.

Physically now at thirteen he looked little different from a year before. However he had indeed grown several inches despite his own doubts of the fact. He still kept his hair shaved off completely and the blue arrow that was part of his Avatar markings showed clearly on his bald head. His young face and brown eyes, though youthful, now carried something else that was far older and wiser. For despite his youth physically he was in fact very old, in his hundreds, due to a period of suspended animation in an iceberg. As such in the year since the Fire Nation's defeat, and even during the war his age had caught up with him and there were times when he felt more like an old man than a child. In addition the Avatar was an ancient soul that wasn't even a human one.

Still he was physically young and had all the energy and cheer that he always had. He was an air nomad after all. Light and carefree like the wind was their way and it was usually his as well. By the time he landed his cheer had returned and it swelled even more at the sight of Katara coming to greet him. She was a girl from the southern water tribe, and as far as Aang was concerned she was the most beautiful girl in the world. She was heavily tanned with brown hair styled in little loops starting from above her ears and ending above her eyes, as well as tied back in a more common form on the back of her head where it hung down past her neck. She was wearing her normal, blue water tribe dress and smiling brightly as he landed.

"You're back early," she said after giving him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"I got distracted and I couldn't get my focus back," Aang explained quickly.

"Wasn't wearing those monk robes of yours supposed to help you with that?" Katara asked, referring to his current clothes which were designed after the robes often worn by the air nomad monks, except not quite as long and incorporating pants and boots like he'd worn during his time learning firebending. Together it formed a strange fusion of his ceremonial robes and the aforementioned outfit. He thought it had a calming feel, especially in the air temple he'd called home, and it had worked until he'd gotten that feeling.

"Yeah, but it was hard to get my focus back," he said, describing the strange feeling that had come over him up in the temple.

"It could just be nothing, maybe you had a bad dumpling," Katara said in a cautious way, meaning she too was taking it seriously, but she always made sure all possibilities were explored.

Aang giggled "No, I don't think Iroh knows how to serve bad dumplings. You know what I think?"

"What?"

"I think I want to go ride a bull pig. I found this group of wild ones near the Earth Kingdom coast." He grinned cheerily and blew his bison shaped whistle to call his animal companion Appa, a large white furred bison with six legs and a massive, broad tail. It wasn't long before he'd appeared and Aang spin jumped onto his companion's back. "Always good to see you buddy," Aang said quietly to Appa who grunted in what could be coherence. Aang beckoned to Katara to come up too and with Aang saying 'yip-yip' as always, his bison friend took to the sky.

------

Nearly an hour and a half later they were flying near the Earth Kingdom. "You and your animal riding," Katara mused.

"You rode the penguins, it's awesome! And since Avatars can live a really long time I'll be able to make sure I ride every single animal in the world that can hold me," Aang said excitedly. However as Appa brought them over an island he felt his joy turn to dread, for they were flying over Kyoshi Island which usually brought him joy. Today however it was far from joyful as the village and half the island were smoking and burning with flames, some of which were a strange purple-black colour. "Oh no," he muttered and patted Appa's head as a way of telling him to land.

They hopped off Appa and strode into the ashes. The village was ruined, the statue of Kyoshi burned with orange flames and already largely ashes. Worse, there were bodies freshly slain all over town including, much to Aang's horror, the young girls who were his big fans when he first came. He felt Katara slip her hand around his as he stared at the unimaginable horror and was sure he could feel her trying not to cry. But to add strangeness to the whole scene were the black flames that burned with some sort of otherworldly power. To Aang, the spirit of the world itself, the flames were especially uncomfortable to look at. _They're just wrong,_ he thought, _I don't know how, but they just shouldn't be here._

As the two watched the dark flames changed colour, first to blue, then to normal orange. Aang turned to Katara as she continued to survey the destruction. "Alright Katara, you look for survivors and I'll put out the fires. You have water for healing?"

Katara patted a water skin hanging from her belt. "Yes, we're going to save some of Kyoshi and find out who the monsters were that did this."

Aang turned in the direction of the ocean and easily and quickly performed the waterbending motions and with natural skill only found in an Avatar he drew a massive fountain of sea spray that fell like drizzle. If either teenager had to describe it they'd call it a tidal wave of spray. Katara found herself momentarily stunned at the power and skill her friend- no, boyfriend- had achieved in merely a year. He was a fast learner for sure, but seeing it in action had an awing effect. As soon as the fires began to die down she darted amongst the ruins, looking for anyone who seemed like they were alive. With a little water she briefly checked each body, checking for signs of life.

Once Aang was sure the fires were out he ceased waterbending and ran towards the center of the town and stood under the charred Kyoshi statue. He took a deep breath and knelt on one knee and pressed the palm of his hand against the earth. He closed his eyes and let his mind go blank and to feel for that little something that told of life. He was the Avatar, he was the living spirit of the world itself, and thus he could find any form of life within a nearby area to him. And there it was, he could feel it, the warm feeling of life and he rushed in the direction he felt the life coming from. Seeing what he was doing Katara followed him through the ashes and burned wood to see some old friends: the Kyoshi Warriors. Except they were badly wounded, with their war paint smeared with blood, the dresses torn and the armour shattered.

Aang knelt over them, using some water from the ocean to heal them and Katara quickly joined in. It wasn't just the Kyoshi Warriors though; the city's mayor and several other citizens of all ages were in the area and were alive. It was a very small group compared to the amount of dead, but it was a blessing nontheless, and there were several children who Aang had met on his previous trips so he was happy that not all his friends here were gone. Together Katara and Aang worked to heal the various people, and worked quickly to keep them from the thin line between life and death that some of them were treading.

"If only we had a messenger hawk," Aang said.

"I spy something better," Katara said, pointing to the sky. There above was a passing airship, but no longer were airships war machines. Under Fire Lord Zuko, battle airships had been discontinued, but the idea was recycled into a long distance transportation vehicle. They were a good deal faster than ships and not affected by the winds. Between Sokka and the Mechanist a gas was discovered, helium to be exact, that allowed the balloons to fly without the need for hot air and the propellers towards the back were powered by steam, heated by a couple firebenders. Sokka and the Mechanist had also devised a new balloon skin, based on the hot air balloon skins, that was tougher and weather resistant, and at Zuko's insistance the airships were painted in the colours of all four nations to show the peace and unity they would hopefully bring about.

Zuko had been right too, the quicker travel they brought seemed to have helped a great deal in restoring peace to the world. The reason being it made travel quicker and the whole world seemed just a bit smaller and everything closer. "I'll get their attention," Aang said. "And you get to see something I've been working on."

Aang punched into the air at an angle and out of his fists shot two bolts of bright green flame. He followed up with two bolts of blue flame followed by two more bolts of green. The crew of the airship noticed alright and began to slow down, but they had no way to land, or at least no way that would make them unable to take off again. Aang had a solution for that problem too. Using his earthbending he created a large spire of rock with a flat top and steps winding around it to the ground.

By the time the airship was tethered and several people were on their way down, some of the Kyoshi Islanders were starting to return to consciousness, though they returned to sleep again after opening their eyes for a moment. The sleep they returned to was peaceful and happy though and in this state they were brought up to the airship as Aang explained the situation to the captain. "Good job Avatar, shame you couldn't get here sooner than you did," the captain said, surveying the ruined village.

Aang lowered his head sadly. "I know, I liked Kyoshi Island too."

"Well at least you saved some of them. It is truly a terrible disaster." The captain gave one last look and turned to go back into the airship.

"Would you have room for a sky bison?" Aang asked.

"Perhaps in cargo, you and your girlfriend coming too?" the captain asked.

Aang nodded and he, with some persuasion, got Appa to fly into a large empty room towards the back of the airship. "Don't worry buddy," he said to his closest friend. "We'll get out of here soon, plus if you use some of your own airbending it'll speed us up easy." He knew Appa at least understood human, even if the unpresent Momo did not. Once that was done, he and Katara joined the other passengers as they made their way to Ba Sing Se.


End file.
